Now that we’ve covered where we stayed in Paris, I thought I’d jump next to where we shopped! First up is Merci, which I had heard much of before our trip and it definitely lived up to the hype. It’s full of fabulous clothing, paper goods, and — what made my heart go pitter-patter — amazing furniture and home accessories. I wanted it all! But it’s a beautiful store to simply walk though, and there’s a pretty courtyard out front and lovely cafe lined with books inside. A perfect place to spend the afternoon!

And another lovely store we visited, just about two blocks from our apartment in the Marais, is Le Petit Atelier de Paris. It sells porcelain homewares and other beautiful items made on site (in the cave below the store). Its designer-owners are extremely nice and they packaged all our many purchases beautifully. And we even made friends with their chien, who loved us for the fresh baguette we were carrying.

I can’t forget to mention the other place we stayed in Paris! On our last night in France, when we had to get up early and catch a plane the next morning, we stayed at the Hotel du Petit Moulin. It’s located in the Marais in a seventeenth century building that was at one time an ancient bakery. Its 1900 facade and shop sign are preserved and have been registered as historic monuments. Every room in the hotel is unique, all designed by Christian Lacroix. So everything is a riot of color and pattern and texture, but everything absolutely works. It was a lovely hotel with very friendly staff — highly recommended!